Unbelievable! Angelina Jolie & Pamela Anderson Dominate TIFF 2024 World Premieres

On Monday, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) unveiled two of the most anticipated sections of the forthcoming event, boasting 63 films in the Gala and Special Presentations programs.

With other major fall festivals such as Telluride, Venice and New York happening concurrently, the Toronto festival has traditionally served as a crucial juncture for the film industry, setting the stage for potential award-winning releases.

While there are still numerous films to be revealed in the weeks leading up to this year’s TIFF, which will take place from 5th to 15th of September, the list of films revealed on Monday is quite impressive.

World premieres at the festival include Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” featuring Marianne Jean-Baptiste, which marks Leigh’s return to a contemporary setting after a series of period films, and Gia Coppola’s drama “The Last Showgirl,” with Pamela Anderson in the role of a dancer in her fifties at a life crossroad.

Other global premieres encompass Edward Burns’ drama “Millers in Marriage,” featuring Julianna Margulies, Gretchen Mol, and Minnie Driver, and David MacKenzie’s thriller “Relay,” with Riz Ahmed, Lily James, and Sam Worthington in leading roles. TIFF will also world premiere Sydney Freeland’s sports drama “Rez Ball,” co-written by “Reservation Dogs” co-creator Sterlin Harjo, and Rachel Morrison’s “The Fire Inside,” a boxing drama penned by Barry Jenkins.

Angelina Jolie directed and wrote the screenplay for the war drama “Without Blood,” based on Alessandro Baricco’s book and featuring Salma Hayek and Demián Bichir.

Among the films having their international premieres at TIFF — a festival that often offers hints on what will also be screened at Venice or Telluride — are “All Quiet on the Western Front” filmmaker Edward Berger’s ecclesiastical drama “Conclave,” with Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci in leading roles; Morgan Neville’s animated documentary on Pharrell Williams, “Piece by Piece”; and Malcolm Washington’s first directorial work, “The Piano Lesson,” a film adaptation of the August Wilson play featuring Washington’s brother, John David Washington, and produced by their father, Denzel Washington.

Stirring considerable interest is the world premiere of “Better Man,” a musical biopic of Robbie Williams directed by “The Greatest Showman’s” Michael Gracey and starring Williams himself.

Several films from this year’s Cannes Film Festival will be screened at TIFF, including Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner “Anora”; Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” which earned a collective acting award for Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Karla Sofía Gascón; Jia Zhang-Ke’s “Caught by the Tides”; Andrea Arnold’s “Bird”; Rungano Nyoni’s “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”; Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada”; Guy Maddin’s “Rumours”; and David Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds.”

Previously announced premieres at this year’s festival include Ron Howard’s survival drama “Eden,” featuring Ana de Armas, Sydney Sweeney, and Vanessa Kirby; John Crowley’s “We Live in Time,” with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield; Marielle Heller’s “Nightbitch,” starring Amy Adams; musician Anderson .Paak’s first directorial work, “K-Pops”; and “Elton John: Never Too Late,” a tour documentary by R.J. Cutler and John’s spouse, David Furnish.

Also previously disclosed, the festival will kick off with the world premiere of David Gordon Green’s “Nutcrackers,” starring Ben Stiller, and conclude with Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut, the musical comedy “Debs.”

The 2023 TIFF saw the launch of Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction,” which bagged the esteemed People’s Choice award and led to Jefferson receiving the Oscar for adapted screenplay, in addition to nominations for best picture, actor Jeffrey Wright, supporting actor Sterling K. Brown, and original score.